Chinese military leader who, as a field commander of the Red Army, contributed to the communists’ 22-year struggle for power and held many high government and party posts. He played a prominent role in the first several years of the Cultural Revolution (1966–76), but in 1971 he allegedly sought to remove Chinese leader Mao Zedong and seize power; his plot was discovered, and he died under obscure circumstances. Early life and military career Lin Biao was born of a modest landholding family in Hubei province in central China. He received his primary education in the village school, then entered middle school in Wuchang, the provincial capital, in 1921. While in middle school, he was deeply affected by the social and cultural upheaval then taking place in his country. He soon became interested in socialism and communism, and in 1923 he joined the Socialist Youth League. In 1925 Lin Biao went south to Guangzhou (Canton) to enroll in the Whampoa (Huangpu) Academy and there began both his...